OOPS: Jake Tapper Claims Black Pipe Bomb Suspect Is a ‘White Man’

Will he write a book about getting this one wrong too? CNN host made a fool out himself again Thursday evening. He kicked off The Lead by falsely claiming that the suspect arrested for planning pipe bombs outside of the Democratic and Republican National Committees national offices ahead of January 6, was a “white man,” when he was, in fact, black. He also refused to correct the record even as he was noting they were showing images of the guy on screen.

“After nearly five years of investigation, the FBI finally announced that they had arrested a suspect, a suspect accused of planting pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack,” he announced as he came on the air.

Then came the ridiculousness:

Brian Cole Jr., a 30-year-old white man from the D.C. suburbs is charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with malicious destruction by means of explosions.

 

 

A few minutes later, as correspondent Brian Todd was recounting how “One neighbor said he would never make eye contact with you” and wear red Crocs in the snow, imagines of the suspect took over the screen.

“And we do have new photographs, as you saw during that presentation from Brian, new photographs of the suspect, and we're showing those to you right now,” Tapper noted as he left Todd and pivoted to his panel.

At no point did Tapper issue a correction to his false claim.

Interestingly, Tapper’s former CNN colleague turned NewsNation host Chris Cuomo seemed to take a swipe at Tapper on X. Cuomo quote tweeted a New York Post article about Tapper blunder and commented: “Old habits.”

 

 

Tapper has a nasty habit of getting simple facts wrong.

In addition to his infamous book where he tried to wash his hands of taking part in the cover up of President Biden’s cognitive decline, Tapper had seemingly lied under oath during his deposition testimony for the defamation suit CNN lost earlier this year.

As NewsBusters previously reported, Tapper couldn’t remember his title at CNN nor what his rating were because, according to him, “I do not pay attention to ratings.” People quickly dug into Tapper’s past tweets where he most definitely was touting his ratings.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

CNN’s The Lead
December 4, 2025
5:01:31 p.m. Eastern

JAKE TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. After nearly five years of investigation, the FBI finally announced that they had arrested a suspect, a suspect accused of planting pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack.

Brian Cole Jr., a 30-year-old white man from the D.C. suburbs is charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with malicious destruction by means of explosions.

CNN observed local and federal law enforcement outside his home in Woodbridge, Virginia this morning. Attorney General Pam Bondi gave very few details about the suspect this morning, but said this cold case has been solved.

(…)

BRIAN TODD: Also talking to neighbors about their previous interactions with the suspect, identified as Brian Cole Jr. They said they often saw him out in the neighborhood walking his Chihuahua. But he was a very reclusive figure, never really interacted with people, almost was antisocial in the words of one neighbor. They described him walking his Chihuahua for long walks frequently several times a day, sometimes even at maybe two in the morning.

One neighbor said he would never make eye contact with you. He would always wear headphones. Never speak to you except to say hello. One neighbor had kind of a quirky account of him saying that what struck him, what stood out to him about the suspect was that even in the deadest of winter, in the coldest days, he'd be out in his shorts with red Crocs walking his dog. But a very reclusive figure is the picture we're getting of the suspect, even though he came from a family that a neighbor said was fairly friendly.

Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Brian Todd in Woodridge, Virginia, thanks.

And we do have new photographs, as you saw during that presentation from Brian, new photographs of the suspect, and we're showing those to you right now.

(…)